IDF Widow MK Called ‘Enemy of Israel’

MK slammed as ‘enemy’ by hareidi extremists reacts, ‘Someone needs to end this anti-Semitism’.

Maayana Miskin, 20/02/14 08:15

MK Moallem-Refaeli

Israel news photo: Flash 90

Hareidi extremists angered by the new enlistment bill taking shape in Knesset responded Wednesday night by sending angry messages and threats to Members of Knesset.

In one example, MKs from the Jewish Home party found themselves added to a WhatsApp group titled, “Enemies of Judaism – Enemies of Israel.”

“You won’t succeed in uprooting us from the halls of the holy Torah,” one message to MKs read, while another said, “Your pact with Lapid will cost you dearly in the World to Come.”

MK Shuli Moallem-Refaeli (Jewish Home), whose first husband died in service as an IDF soldier in a helicopter crash, said she would complain to police over the messages.

“Nobody can call me an enemy of Israel. I’m the one who lost a husband so that they could learn Torah in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem,” she declared.

“The hareidi community has fallen on its head,” she continued, “The time has come for someone to calm these anti-Semitic sentiments before it is too late.”

Those who insulted Moallem and her colleagues were apparently upset by the Shaked Committee’s decision to include criminal sanctions on hareidi men who avoid army service in the new draft law on universal military service.

This is not the first time the issue of hareidi figures have been accused of incitement over personal attacks against Religious Zionist figures. Last July a prominent rabbi aligned with the Shas party drew angry condemnations after referring to Religious Zionists as "Amalek" - a reference to the Biblical arch-foes of the Jewish people.